Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern, has been revealed to be Gay

[Ninja D!]

I thought that Ryan Reynolds was a terrible choice. I also don't think a Justice League movie should be made.

[Elemental_Elf]

I thought that Ryan Reynolds was a terrible choice. I also don't think a Justice League movie should be made.

Ryan Reynolds has the right amount of charisma, looks and acting ability to pull it off.

The Justice League movie will become a reality because there's a huge potential market for it thanks to the Avengers.

Batman will soon begin the process of being rebooted, Superman is being rebooted, Green Lantern is getting a second film. All they need is a Wonder Woman film to have a well rounded team of four, if they really are going to follow the Marvel movie formula to the T.

[Ninja D!]

I think he's lacking the look and acting ability. The Justice League movie was always going to happen but the team things are cheesey. They tried for a Wonderwoman TV movie and series and got shot down.

[Cheomesh]

Why is Batman getting a reboot?  I thought Rises was continuing the two filmes with Bale?

Damn it, this is why I never got into comics.

M.

[Elemental_Elf]

Why is Batman getting a reboot?  I thought Rises was continuing the two filmes with Bale?

Damn it, this is why I never got into comics.

M.

No, Rises concludes the trilogy.

After that, it is time to reboot the series to bring it in line with the other Justice League movies. My guess is that the current stock of Batman movies are too dark and not comic book-y enough to jive with the likes Green Lantern and Superman.

[SDragon]

I guess I need to get a better handle on everyone's reaction here.

Retcons have always made me crazy.  Actually drove me away from comics, to be honest.  I agree with the Elf that it was a rush job to seem relevant.  I also don't consider Alan Scott a major character, nor do I find a retconning that gets rid of his children to be a good one.  Hundreds of characters to choose from, and they had to pick on who already had a deep backstory with family members.  I'd rather they had made him poly or bi and kept the kids.

I think it's laudable to put more LGBT role models in the media-- especially in superheroic roles-- but having this reveal turn out to be an alternate-universe version of an obscure B- or C-lister strikes me as just dull tokenism. "Gay superhero? That's cool. ...Oh, it's a backup version of someone nobody cares about anyway?"

gimmick.

Nothing to add, here...

[Seraph]

Why is Batman getting a reboot?  I thought Rises was continuing the two filmes with Bale?

Damn it, this is why I never got into comics.

M.

No, Rises concludes the trilogy.

After that, it is time to reboot the series to bring it in line with the other Justice League movies. My guess is that the current stock of Batman movies are too dark and not comic book-y enough to jive with the likes Green Lantern and Superman.

This is my understanding as well.  Dark Knight Rises is in fact concluding Chris Nolan's Batman franchise.  Then they get to start all over again!  Again...

[Elemental_Elf]

Why is Batman getting a reboot?  I thought Rises was continuing the two filmes with Bale?

Damn it, this is why I never got into comics.

M.

No, Rises concludes the trilogy.

After that, it is time to reboot the series to bring it in line with the other Justice League movies. My guess is that the current stock of Batman movies are too dark and not comic book-y enough to jive with the likes Green Lantern and Superman.

This is my understanding as well.  Dark Knight Rises is in fact concluding Chris Nolan's Batman franchise.  Then they get to start all over again!  Again...

Correction: Dark Knight Rises is in fact concluding Chris Nolan's Batman franchise.  Then Christopher Nolan gets to do it all over again!

Yup, Nolan and his wife are going to be producers for the new Batman franchise. This can be good and bad. On the one hand, he's proven himself to be quite capable. On the other, he may not be able to pull off non-gritty-realistic as well as others.

[Steerpike]

My guess is that the current stock of Batman movies are too dark and not comic book-y enough to jive with the likes Green Lantern and Superman.

To me, this is the really big problem with the Justice League, and really with the entire idea of the DC universe.  Batman tends to fight bad guys on a certain scale.  Usually, their super-powers are very low-key: the Penguin, Catwoman, the Joker, Mr. Freeze, Scarecrow, Two-Face, Zsasz, the Riddler, and even characters like Bane, Poison Ivy, Clayface, and Killer Croc have modest powers or none at all.  As far as I know, virtually all of Batman's central rogue's gallery have powers that can be "explained" by technological accidents, if they even have real powers.  This fits with the "gritty" feel of Batman, and the idea that Batman himself isn't superhuman, just rich and resourceful.  Plots tend to revolve around Gotham City and its citizens, busting up gangster and foiling terrorist-style plots.

Superman, on the other hand, deals with threats on an epic scale.  With the notable exception of Lex Luther, many of his enemies are high-powered cosmic threats: the city-shrinking superhuman robot Brainiac, god-like aliens like Darkseid, Doomsday, Gog, General Zod, and Bizarro, trans-dimensional weirdos like Mr. Mxyzptlk, etc etc.  Plots aren't limited to Metropolis but revolve around things like preventing the sun from blowing up or stopping some cosmic being from removing everyone's free will.  Green Lantern and Wonder Woman tend to fight similarly intergalactic/dimensional/cosmic threats, like mythological gods and alien shapshifters.  It all feels really colourful and over-the-top and BIG.  It's the opposite world of the gloomy, mundane, Gothic universe of Batman.

IMO, it thus makes very little sense to jam characters like Batman together with Superman and Green Lantern.  Inevitably, Batman seems to lose all of the things that make him Batman: his intense, brooding individuality, a feeling of visceral reality, a sense of alienation and creepiness.  Incarnations of Batman that lose that stuff and put Batman on a level with other heroes and supervillians... it's like they missed the whole point of why Batman is cool.

EDIT: On the other hand, the Avengers all basically fit together. [spoiler] One of the more noticeable flaws in the recent film, I thought, was how un-menacing Hawkeye was.  I feel like Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, or Captain America could have bested him pretty easily, which is why they had to put him up against Black Widow while he was mind-controlled.  In the climactic set-piece battle he felt extraneous, and his absurdly powerful skills just felt kinda silly, at least to me.  So Hawkeye, for me, is sorta like a little microcosmic version of why Batman doesn't work in the Justice League...[/spoiler]

[LD]

The Green Lantern was one of the most boring characters. When I saw the news item with photos of potential LGBT DC characters, I figured it would be the Arrow or the Lantern. Sadly, I don't think that a gimmick like that will be enough to make the Green Lantern interesting :( But at least he should appeal more to some people! :)

It's not the first time this has happened though. Remember when Dr. Fate turned into a woman (???) to fix the gender-balance of the comics.

[LordVreeg]

Steepike,
not to bust the spoiler, but it was one of my favorite issues of the avengers back in the day when all the avengers had been 'collected' by the collector, and only Hawkeye was left to face him and rescue the others. Excellent read, honestly.

[Steerpike]

I can see how that would be pretty cool!  I think Batman has more problems than power level in terms of the tonal dissonance, though.  I'm sure there are plenty of awesome Justice League stories, I just think the idea is a little half-baked.

[Ninja D!]

The team up things have always been a bit too cheesey to me. A crossover here and there is awesome but when it's a regular thing with such different characters, I don't really like it.

[Elemental_Elf]

My guess is that the current stock of Batman movies are too dark and not comic book-y enough to jive with the likes Green Lantern and Superman.

To me, this is the really big problem with the Justice League, and really with the entire idea of the DC universe.  Batman tends to fight bad guys on a certain scale.  Usually, their super-powers are very low-key: the Penguin, Catwoman, the Joker, Mr. Freeze, Scarecrow, Two-Face, Zsasz, the Riddler, and even characters like Bane, Poison Ivy, Clayface, and Killer Croc have modest powers or none at all.  As far as I know, virtually all of Batman's central rogue's gallery have powers that can be "explained" by technological accidents, if they even have real powers.  This fits with the "gritty" feel of Batman, and the idea that Batman himself isn't superhuman, just rich and resourceful.  Plots tend to revolve around Gotham City and its citizens, busting up gangster and foiling terrorist-style plots.

Superman, on the other hand, deals with threats on an epic scale.  With the notable exception of Lex Luther, many of his enemies are high-powered cosmic threats: the city-shrinking superhuman robot Brainiac, god-like aliens like Darkseid, Doomsday, Gog, General Zod, and Bizarro, trans-dimensional weirdos like Mr. Mxyzptlk, etc etc.  Plots aren't limited to Metropolis but revolve around things like preventing the sun from blowing up or stopping some cosmic being from removing everyone's free will.  Green Lantern and Wonder Woman tend to fight similarly intergalactic/dimensional/cosmic threats, like mythological gods and alien shapshifters.  It all feels really colourful and over-the-top and BIG.  It's the opposite world of the gloomy, mundane, Gothic universe of Batman.

IMO, it thus makes very little sense to jam characters like Batman together with Superman and Green Lantern.  Inevitably, Batman seems to lose all of the things that make him Batman: his intense, brooding individuality, a feeling of visceral reality, a sense of alienation and creepiness.  Incarnations of Batman that lose that stuff and put Batman on a level with other heroes and supervillians... it's like they missed the whole point of why Batman is cool.

EDIT: On the other hand, the Avengers all basically fit together. [spoiler] One of the more noticeable flaws in the recent film, I thought, was how un-menacing Hawkeye was.  I feel like Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, or Captain America could have bested him pretty easily, which is why they had to put him up against Black Widow while he was mind-controlled.  In the climactic set-piece battle he felt extraneous, and his absurdly powerful skills just felt kinda silly, at least to me.  So Hawkeye, for me, is sorta like a little microcosmic version of why Batman doesn't work in the Justice League...[/spoiler]

If you watch the Justice League TV show, they manage to combine Batman and Superman, along with the other big names. The key is to giving each a different mission while on the adventure. Sure Batman can't beat the crap out of Darkseid but he can blow Darkseid's death-ray up. Additionally, Batman is amazing at confounding and defeating mooks. Plus, let's be honest, Batman is really smart and very cunning. He can get captured and macguiver himself out of it. Superman can't do that. He relies completely on his powers. That's why Batman is always useful.

However, I fully admit that when super heroes team up, they often become caricatures of themselves. Batman becomes stealthy super tactician. Superman becomes a walking, talking beatstick. Green Lantern (John Stewart) becomes an angry guy who makes crazy stuff with his ring. Wonder Woman embodies all aspects of the female gender (also she gets to fly and has super strength). The Flash becomes super cocky and child-like. Martian Man Hunter becomes a complete background character. Hawk Girl becomes an angry berserker.

As for Hawkeye, I'd say he was very forgettable because he didn't have any real role in the lead in movies. Black Widow had a huge role in Ironman 2, we were able to see her real and her super personas in action. Hawkeye had a cameo in Thor where he basically held his bow up and stood there for 10 minutes. That doesn't tell, or more importantly show, me anything about the character. He didn't feel like he belonged because we really didn't know who he was. Like you said, that's why he was mind controlled and not anyone else.

[Ninja D!]

The biggest issue with Hawkeye probably was that he felt like an afterthought in the movies leading up to Avengers. He made an appearance in Thor but we got nothing of his character. Then, when he's really there in Avengers, he gets mentally dominated almost right away and isn't himself for a large part of the movie. That was made worse by how easy it was to free him when someone actually bothered attempting to do so.

Batman wouldn't have the same failing. He'd be more like Iron Man because we all know that money is the best super power. Also, where the SUPERheroes can normally just charge into things head first and come out on top, Batman always has to plan things so he has that experience when something comes up that everyone needs to be careful with. Batman, as something more unique to him, is also the guy sometimes more able to make or get others to make the difficult choices. Really, he's just not afraid to be a prick if that's what's needed.